Very slow shared start menu shorts -not sure how to explain!

[CM786]

Hi guys,

 

This is a strange one. Just been setting up a new network where in theory everything should just fly along.

 

The Server - AMD X2 Dual Core, 2Gb Ram, 36Gb WD Rapter HDD for Redirected Start Menus/Desktop. Another 36Gb WD Rapter HDD for the OS (Server 2003 x64bit) and a 250Gb Seagate SATA2 drive for storage.

 

Clients - Biostar IDEQ N1 Small Form Factor, Nforce Chipset, AMD Sempron 64Bit 2800+, 512Mb DDR400 Ram, 80Gb SATA HDD and Windows XP SP2.

 

(as you can see I prefer AMD )

 

I have used group policy to redirect the start menu/desktop/my documents for all users (currently just one user called ITSuite) in the IT Suite.

 

All software was installed locally on the clients before they joined the domain. I just copied the local shortcuts to the installed software and put them on on the redirected start menu share on the server.

 

Problem I have is that when a client logs in, and selects a program from the start menu, it takes almost a minute before the application starts up. Its like something is blocking them???? Not sure how to describe it.

 

I copied the shortcuts from the redirected start menu to the local client machines C:\ while logged into the domain and all MS Office applications (which seems to be the main ones with the problem) come on instantly - no delay or hold up. Definetly seems to be a problem the server config?? But I can't think what??

 

I thought it was a group policy problem (windows installer being disabled) but after enabling it, the shortcuts to the applications stored on the server via the redirected start menu are still slow, yet the shortcuts to the programs via the local start menu (after I allowed the local start menu to appear) work instantly. What is going on??

 

This happened yesterday and I am now not back at the school until next week - but its annoying me and I kept thinking about this all last night even when watching the Spain Vs France game (god....I'm sad! :oops: )

 

The only change I have made is add a new group policy called "Student Wallpaper" that (well obviously) adds a nice wallpaper and in order to get this working I disabled the option in my "Student Lockdown" GPO to force classic shell.

 

I just don't think it is group policy related. Just hope its a simple fix. Teachers have not noticed yet which is quite amusing...

 

Help please..

 

Thanks,

CM786

 

The

[MkII]

Is 'ITSuite' a clean new user? - is there old profile data messing it up?

[CM786]

Hi Mark,

 

Yep... brand new user and I don't use Roaming Profiles either.

 

After somemore reading I thought it might have something to do with the switch in the comms cabinete,but that has just been replaced with a new 48-port Netgear one with a gig uplink to the server........so its not that.

 

hmm...

[Ric_]

Did you copy the icons or re-create them?

 

You'll find that, if you inspect the properties of some shortcuts, some apps don't put a normal path in the 'target' field. Instead they somehow link to something to do with the MSI that installed them.

[CM786]

Did you copy the icons or re-create them?

 

You'll find that, if you inspect the properties of some shortcuts, some apps don't put a normal path in the 'target' field. Instead they somehow link to something to do with the MSI that installed them.

 

I just copied them from a local machine onto the server share. I did look at the properties and the target field was greyed out?? Which means?? :oops:

[Ric_]

I just copied them from a local machine onto the server share. I did look at the properties and the target field was greyed out?? Which means?? :oops:

 

This is what I'm talking about... not sure what it means but I know that it can cause trouble. Simply drag the application EXE file with the righ-hand mouse button and create a shortcut that way.

[CM786]

Cheers Ric! I shall try in on Tuesday and report back!

[Ric_]

Cheers Ric! I shall try in on Tuesday and report back!

 

Long weekend eh?!?!

[CM786]

Cheers Ric! I shall try in on Tuesday and report back!

 

Long weekend eh?!?!

 

Nah mate.... only vist that school half-a-day a week so won't get back in their until Tuesday unfortunetly. 8)

 

Thanks again.... really hope it works, then I can enjoy the football again without this at the back on my mind. :oops:

[CM786]

Just had chance to try making a few shortcuts on another machine in another school - but with a very similar setup.

 

On this network it doesn't matter if the shortcut target field is greyed out or not, both shortcuts work instantly.

 

Pic attached (just to try! )

[CM786]

Back at the school today.

 

I'm an idiot - I had given full control to the start menu share, so obviously when more then one person accessed it, the item become unavailable for the other users! Hence the "block" feeling :oops: :oops: :oops:

 

Glad its sorted now however!

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Uraken]

I'm having a similar problem with my redirected shortcuts taken ages to appear can you elaborate on your fix cm786?

[ajbritton]

I did look at the properties and the target field was greyed out?? Which means?? :oops:

 

As Ric_ said, these are 'advertised' shortcuts which are sometimes created by software which is installed by Windows Installer (MSI) files. The shortcut points to a GUID which is an entry point for a particular 'Feature' in the MSI file. The idea behind this is that you can 'assign' an MSI to an OU (and therefore the users within it) and the shortcuts for the software will appear on those users' start menus. When a user clicks on a shortcut, the MSI then installs the requested feature. Quite clever but it could cause problems if you have different versions of software on different machines. Having said that, I regularly copy these type of shortcuts using scripts onto different PCs without any problems so far.

[djm968]

I'm having a similar problem with my redirected shortcuts taken ages to appear can you elaborate on your fix cm786?

 

Check the permission set on the shared start menu folder. Standard users should only have read permissions on this folder and the shortcuts.

[Uraken]

I have just noticed that my windows 2000 machines are fine and dandy but my xp machines seem to hang when loading these shortcuts?

[Geoff]

Check your DNS infrastructure is working correctly.

[ChrisH]

I have similar troubles. I have redone all my office shortcuts etc but sometimes I get that freezing. I know it is occassionally because there is a shortcut in the menu which cant resolve the path to the server and app but seriously why should the machines hang upto a minute while it sorts itself out?

[sidewinder]

I'm having a similar problem with my redirected shortcuts taken ages to appear can you elaborate on your fix cm786?

 

Check the permission set on the shared start menu folder. Standard users should only have read permissions on this folder and the shortcuts.

 

Are you referring to NTFS or share permissions?

We dont have the students allowed to do anything except read via NTFS permissions or they would delete/edit/add stuff, but share permissions are everyone - full control.

 

Because we are having the same problems

 

Although I am yet to go through and check for greyed out shortcuts

[complete_phreak]

We have similar problems. It seems to be worse if we redirect to a DFS share using a FQDN unc path. We would preferably like to use a DFS share for fallover resiliance. Any advice? I know this is slightly off topic but we do have some wierd DNS AD issues here too. Some clients assigned by DHCP are resolved to incorrect IP's.

[Ric_]

@complete_phreak: More than likely, your DNS problem is causing the start menu problems... you must fix DNS for everything to work correctly. DCDIAG and NETDIAG should help with this.

 

I also know that ChrisH has had issues with slow start menus and DFS... may be worth dropping him a PM?

[Uraken]

Hi chris h did you manage to get any where near a fix for this its still driving me mad

[browolf]

I've got a major problem with slow start menus on xp too

 

I've checked all the icons, got rid of any dubious ones

run dcdiag

the only error is when i do it to the ip of the dc it has

directory binding error 87 at the start

im not sure what this is but there exists a reverse dns pointer for the server

 

netdiag no problems

 

made sure users are read:only on the folder

 

according to filemon, there's a massive amount of csc activity when trying to browse start menus. (attached filemon log file)

 

what else is involved in this process?

[Geoff]

Do you really want your start menus cached offline?

[browolf]

yeah cos when we used to not do that, they always got horribly inconsistent.

this is the best thing........when it works

[ICT_GUY]

There is a setting in ad under user config>admin templates > start menu > Do not use serach based methods when resolving shortcuts (or some such)

 

Definition below, it might be worth a shot. I shall post later if it fixes our problems.

 

 

Prevents the system from conducting a comprehensive search of the target drive to resolve a shortcut.

 

By default, when the system cannot find the target file for a shortcut (.lnk), it searches all paths associated with the shortcut. If the target file is located on an NTFS partition, the system then uses the target's file ID to find a path. If the resulting path is not correct, it conducts a comprehensive search of the target drive in an attempt to find the file.

 

If you enable this setting, the system does not conduct the final drive search. It just displays a message explaining that the file is not found.

 

Note: This setting only applies to target files on NTFS partitions. FAT partitions do not have this ID tracking and search capability.

 

Also, see the "Do not track Shell shortcuts during roaming" and the "Do not use the tracking-based method when resolving shell shortcuts" settings.